Research has shown that the legume family may help to reduce chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes mellitus, inflammatory diseases, osteoporosis, depression, obesity, cancer and stroke.

In some Eastern cultures, legumes are and were a basic dietary staple that can be traced back more than 20,000 years.

So why donít we eat lots of beans? GAS is the short answer! The jokes about gassy beans are just as common as the experience!

The truth is beans do cause many people to have GAS in the intestines for a very real reason.

Beans contain a triple sugar, stachyose; a quadruple sugar, raffinose; and a five sugar, verbascose that we cannot digest. We are missing an enzyme that is required to break down these sugars. When the beans get to the colon, the bacteria in the colon begins to ferment these sugars producing gas in the process.

If you gradually increase the amount of beans you eat over several weeks most people will overcome this, provided you do a few simple things in terms of how you cook them and what combinations you eat. The benefit of eating more of these sugars in beans is that it promotes the growth of intestinal bacteria, and these bacteria create an environment in the colon that lowers the risk for cancer.

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Diana Herrington turned a debilitating health crisis into a passion for helping others with healthy, sugar-free, gluten-free, eating and cooking. After testing and researching every possible healthy therapy on her delicate system she has developed simple, powerful principles which she shares in her recent book Eating Green and Lean, and as host to Care2 groups: Healthy Living Network and Healthy Cooking. She is the head chef at Real Food for Life, where she shares recipes and tips. Sign up for the Real Food for Life weekly newsletter or catch her on Facebook or Twitter (@DancinginLife).